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Exchange of views between the European Committee of Social Rights and Mr
Skouris, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union

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At its 242nd session, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) held an
exchange of views with the President of the Court of Justice of the European
Union, Mr Vassilios Skouris in the presence of the President of the European
Court of Human Rights, Mr Jean-Paul Costa.

The discussion concerned in particular the links between the European Social
Charter and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the role of the European Social
Charter within the legal order of the European Union (Preamble of the Treaty on
European Union and Article 151 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union), the material influence of the case law of the ECSR on the interpretation
of the EU Charter by the Court of Justice and the impact of EU legislation on
the implementation of the European Social Charter by the States Parties.
Mr Skouris emphasised that although the European Social Charter (ESC) was rarely
mentioned explicitly by the Court of Justice (ECJ), it was a source of
inspiration to it. In fact ESC was often quoted by the advocates general and it
could be noted that since 2006 the ESC had been quoted more frequently. He noted
that the ECJ was generally reluctant to cite case law from other courts,
including national supreme courts (with the exception of judgments from the
European Court of Human Rights) but emphasised that this did not mean the ECJ
did not have regard to case law from other jurisdictions.

He also recalled that indeed the ESC is explicitly mentioned in Article 151 of
the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

It was agreed that there is a mutual interest in continuing to exchange
information and views in order to ensure a better understanding and ensure
consistency of case law. It was stated that currently much of the case law of
the ECSR is unfortunately not very well known and perhaps not as accessible as
it should be. However, it should be recognised that the ECSR has an unparalleled
case law, although it is for a large part developed in the context of national
reports. The collective complaints procedure has helped to clarify certain
aspects of the case law and also make it more accessible. It offers a human
rights approach to key social issues, that is its value for the ECJ (and for the
ECHR).

It was agreed by all that there was a need to increase information/communication
on the case law of the ECSR. One possible avenue that could be explored in the
future was to see if the research units of the ECJ could include information on
ESCR case law on a more systematic basis in their comparative law studies, as
they already do for the ECHR.